In
630 AD Folkestone
again comes firmly onto the map of history. Eadbald
was then king of 
Kent. Eadbald
succeeded his father, Æthelberht,
as King of Kent
on his death in 616. During his reign, Eadbald
arranged the marriage of his sister Æthelburga to King Edwin of Northumbria,
ceased to live with his mother, and married the Frankish Emma. When
he died in 640, he was succeeded by his son Erkenberht. Eadbald
chose Folkestone as the site for the church and nunnery dedicated to
St. Peter & St. Paul, which he founded for his daughter Eanswythe.
Eadbald
also built a castle for the protection of the nunnery. Although the
original church has many centuries since fallen into the sea and the
castle is no longer in existence it was under the protection of the
castle that the fishing village of Folkestone had its true origins.
Over the next four hundred years the church and nunnery underwent many changes. They moved from their original locations, were attacked by Danes and then restored in 927 AD by King Athelstan. In 1052 AD the church and the nunnery still remained the hub of village life. This changed suddenly. Earl Godwin, in dispute with King Edward the Confessor over Edward's pro Norman attitude and use of Norman advisors, began a campaign of assaults on coastal Britain. One such attack involved a raid on the town of Folkestone and the destruction of her church and nunnery.
